Man in Black III rapper Pitbull admits he wants to follow Will Smith in acting

RAPPER Pitbull is looking to emulate Will Smith and become an “empire” in three years.

RAPPER Pitbull is looking to emulate Will Smith and become an “empire” in three years.

After dominating the charts, the 31-year-old Cuban American, real name Armando Pérez, wants to become an actor.

Pitbull has been studying Smith because the rapper performs the theme tune to the Hollywood actor’s new film Men in Black III.

He said: “Will’s not just an actor, that’s a businessman, that’s a walking empire.

“He’s someone that’s come from music to movies and movies to an entrepreneur. That’s what I want.”

Pitbull has dragged himself up from nothing.

Born in Miami, his parents divorced and he spent time with a foster family before being kicked out of his mum’s home, aged 16, for dealing drugs.

But after meeting Lil Jon, Pitbull featured on the star’s album Kings of Crunk in 2002.

Then his own song, Oye, was included on the soundtrack to the film 2 Fast 2 Furious the next year.

Since his debut album M.I.A.M.I in 2004, Pitbull has released five more, but only Planet Pit, last year, was released in the UK and went to number 11.

He has had his own UK No1 single, Give Me Everything, and a further top-spot hit with Jennifer Lopez’s On The Floor.

He is also one of the most used rappers in the business and has featured on songs from Alexandra Burke, Usher, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and recent No2 track, She Doesn’t Mind, by Sean Paul.

With music in the bag, Pitbull is now looking to follow Will, who started as a rapper.

After fame as The Fresh Prince in the 80s, Will became a telly star in 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, before his movie debut as a gay hustler in Six Degrees of Separation in 1993. He’s back in sci-fi comedy Men in Black III, which is out on May 25 and has Pitbull’s Back In Time as the theme tune.

The makers approached Pitbull to “muckify” the film’s concept of going back in time as Smith’s Agent J travels back to the 60s.

The track is released on Monday and includes the sample Love Is Strange by Mickey & Sylvia.

Pitbull is a huge film buff, mainly thanks to Scarface, which was made on the mean streets of Miami.

He now wants to make films about the city he grew up in.

“I lived it. I grew up around all of that, Tony Montana’s by the dozen, you know?

“I think that those stories haven’t been told yet.

“There’s going to be a lot of interesting stories coming down the pipeline from Miami, not necessarily all criminal, but one way or another were tied in.

“Because Miami is, I would say, one of the fastest-growing cities in the history of cities and metropolitans.”

So, with a new song called Back In Time, it’s no surprise where Pitbull would go if he had a time machine.

“Miami in 80 to 86 and lose my god damn mind for sure.

“Everybody I speak to about the 80s, I always tell them, ‘Man, tell me the stories, tell me the stories,’ and they’re like, ‘Man, I just don’t remember’.

“That’s why we say, ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and what happens in Miami, never happened’.”